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Spoils of War:Underestimation
FIREBASE VIGILANCE 2: Within the high mountains, a small Autobot outpost was redeployed, a stone's throw from Nova Cronum. The area had been assaulted twice in the last month by Con recon teams. Featuring all the basic amenities of home, it keeps a watchful eye on Nova Cronum, the Neutral city of the greatest free minds of Cybertron. While not a primary position of interest for the Autobots, all forces could use a helping hand to keep an eye on the war effort. Elita One sits at the radar station, the large green screen with a constantly spinning sweepline. She multitasks, using her own datapad and thumbdrive to do some secondary work, analysis and repositioning. As such, her gaze is averted with the radar beeps a single time, picking up a red signature approaching from the water. She raises her head, alarmed. "Hmm?" The radar sweeps by again. Nothing. Cautiously, she stands anyway, "Arcee...radar ping. Could be nothing but..." She's already moving to exit the firebase, high in the mountains to the west of Nova Cronum, "we'd better check it out anyway." Elita One's posed. As it is, Arcee's only dropped by here on a courtesy run, to bring some more supplies from Decagon, and had only been at the mountain base for a brief time when the ping come in. "Very true, could be running on stealth," she acknowledges, moving to follow Elita out of the base. Several low riding flat Con transports ride the waves of the sea towards Nova Cronum. Why? Because it's harder to catch on Firebase Vigilance 2's radar. The Predacon's recon missions did well enough to determine that! Several groups of Con gumbies stand at attention, weapons active as the platoon of troops grimly await their moment. Ahead of the others is a most un-military hovercraft. Sleek and well designed, stylish even, what was once Widget's hovercraft, and is now Swindle's hovercraft (due to doubledealing, of course) glides over the waves carrying the two Combaticons. The Decepticon radio crackles to life, <<"Loco to Combaticons. We're in position. Give the word and we'll be en route at a moment's notice. Just keep em occupied, I don't need a brigade of city defenders, no matter how weak, dropping in to say 'hi'. >> Sea spray fills the air as the hovercraft approaches the dock.... And that is entirely the point. The non-military hovercraft in the lead was a matter of misdirection, looking like it was just some bigwig brain trust coming back from whatever excersion robotic eggheads go out on to amuse themselves. And they thought Swindle was wasting his time getting his hands on the thing during the Crystal City raids. Swindle's Rules of Business #24 -- Never doubt the usefulness of an aquisition, even if it's not an immeadiate one. The hovercraft pulls up to one of the docks and settles into place as the magnetic tractors pull it in. The typical dock workers and a couple of security lugs come down to go about their business of checking the ship and possible incoming materials aboard it. By the way they look bored, these neutral brainiacs don't bring much of interest to the uneducated masses home with them. The door-hatch of the hovercraft opens up... And in a sudden thunderous blast of flash and flak most of them are sent flying backwards off the opposite side of the dock. Followed by Swindle stepping out onto the platform, leveling the still smoking arm-cannon at the nearest security boat and blasting a hole in it's hull to keep it from deploying. <> Notepad(#6986Tn) to teleport @tel (itemdbref)=*(player) @cemit/noisy autobot=Joebot says, "Erectin' a dispenser!" help cemit for more info #10116 !attack e1=punch #10116 say Hello! @chown #10116=me, then @set #10116=!halt "http://patorjk.com/software/taag/#p=display&f=Graffiti&t=Type0Something" Harrow says, "when you find the one you want, copy it and past it in http://mushcode.com/Ascii2Mu" Zipline has arrived. Apr 07 16:38:29 2014 <'Decepticon'> Loco says, "Roger that, Boss. We'll in motion. Can't wait to see the look on their faceplates." CHAT: End recall CHAT: To recall the entire buffer, use @chan/recall Decepticon=0 <'Decepticon'> Swindle says, "Told you leading in with a non-military craft would throw them off." <'Autobot'> Thinktank says, "Autobot Forces, am I getting through to you? This is Thinktank, at Nova Cronum. We've got Decepticon signatures. We're rallying the Braintrust, but we could use a hand out here!" Docks - Praetorus Wharf(#11809Rnt) - Nova Cronum The docks are largely obscured by a constant misty fog, so watch your footing! There is a distinct hissing sound coming from below - the frothy water appears to be fizzing like a carbonated soft drink. An ornate chronometer oversees the wharf, and tolls forlornly as freighter ships arrive and depart. Lime-green lanterns light the boat slips for the recreational sailors, who have left their watercraft hitched neatly along the segmented floating planks. Contents: Zipline(#4917) Arcee(#4331) Swindle(#967) Blast Off(#1878) Obvious exits: South leads to Grayglint's Gorge - Thunderhead Pass. Blast Off steps up from the hatch and finds himself on the deck of Swindle's hovercraft. The shuttle grips onto the railing, blaster in hand. Finally, the moment he can fly free of the enclosed ground-bound craft. He'd rather be up in the air. For the moment, though, he remains on the craft, gesturing to incoming troops to move in for the assault. <> There's a pause. <<...try not to needlessly destroy places and items that could be valuable resources for us later.>> Namely, there are some nice wine shops in this area and Blast Off would hate to see them needlessly destroyed...... >_> <'Autobot'> Zipline says, "You'll get it, TT! Zipline, movin' out!" Elita One moves to kneel, her breastplate swings up on both sides, her arms retract, slipping behind her as she sinks down. A windshield rises up at the end, covering her face as she turns into a futuristic car. Arcee darts ahead to gracefully transform into her pink Cybertronian Tech Car, enging purring, ready to go! "Good that you've got my back then! Autobot, Let's roll out!" She vaults over the cliff's edge skidding, metal chunks and dust spouting up behind her, she leans forwards, transforming into her techcar mode. She roars down the side of the cliff in a display of reckless driving! Eight seconds later, she cuts the wheel hard enough to put her up on two wheels, smoke trailing off now as she hits the road. < can see em! A naval invasion. That explains things. They must've cut the bouy sensors to the harbor! >> Somewhere on a train, Loco takes a moment to buff his nails as he smokes an enercig. Hitting her high speeds as Nova Cronum looms in the distance, she responds to Zipline. << Zipline! Good to see you're nearby, form up with us. Together we can draw the fight off of the guards, give them a chance to marshal up! >> Moments later, at Nova Cronum's gate, a pink car roars through the air, landing on the road, making time towards the harbor! And yet *another* pink car is not too far behind Elita, ready to provide support as needed. Comparing to her leisurely pace at Blurr's racing event, Arcee is definitely showing that she can get a move-on, too, when the situation insists upon it. Combat: Error - arcee/vel is not a valid integer. Combat: Pink Techcar <'Elita One'> compares her Velocity to Pink Saturn Sky <'Arcee'>'s Velocity: Success! <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "Faster, Arcee!" <> The fiesty voice given to a certain cheetah tape-bot replies over the radio, <>. Why was Zipline even in the area? She doesn't LIKE water in the first place. But that doesn't matter when it comes to where you're posted. Unfortunately, Zipline is on the entire opposite side of the city. But that does't matter now as a tawny yellow streak takes to the rooftops. Her small size comes to her advantage; the roofs barely even creak under her paws as she lunges from one, to the other. A slanted rooftop takes her by surprise, and she goes skidding off of the edge. But she lunges off of it at the last minute, only to grab ahold of another rooftop by her claws. Zipline scrambles quickly back on the rooftop, pausing only a second. "Whew, close one!" Then in a flash, she bounds off. And procedes to leap from rooftop to rooftop just along the road. Swindle personally would of rathered to be invading an industrial dock, but a mission is a mission. Oh well, he can probably make a tidy sum off of scrapmetal afterwards. As is he's just strolling up the dock platforms like this was a casual walk instead of an invasion, but the laid back mood disappears in an instant when the sound of engines and sights of pink appear down the streets. At this he pulls a chronometer out of a compartment and looks at it. "Huh, they're a bit quicker on the response time than expected. Oh well." He tucks it away again, and activates the choke on his scatterblaster to trade some spread for range as he raises the cannon once more. It makes a loud retort as he fires, but instead of shooting at the Autobots directly he blasts a communications relay off one of the buildings, sending it crashing down towards the two inbound pink cars. Hook has arrived. Combat: Swindle sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Swindle misses Pink Techcar <'Elita One'> with his Creating obstacles (Full-Auto) Area attack! Combat: Swindle (Swindle) used "Full-Auto": A Level 2 AREA-RANGED attack. Combat: Swindle misses Pink Saturn Sky <'Arcee'> with his Creating obstacles (Full-Auto) Area attack! <'Autobot'> Thinktank says, "***STATIC*****" <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "Thinktank, respond! Your signal's breaking up!" The Nova Cronum defenders, aka the Braintrust, are caught by surprise by the Decepticon assault, losing precious seconds on their defense, but soon enough Cybertronian Neutrals start to move to the higher points of the docks, laying down their own suppressive fire, completely ignoring the real threats and firing only at the gumbies. THREE MONTHS AGO: Thinktank screams at one of the recruits, "NO! Don't fire at the big names, take out the regular troopers. If you shoot at a REAL foe, HE WILL KILL YOU!" Blast Off , meanwhile, begins to hover up into the air just above the dock to get a better view of things. As Swindle targets the rush of pink, the shuttleformer spots another rush... of yellow... with spots, darting from rooftop to rooftop. "Ah, another pest, another... "spot" of target practice. Not that *I* need it." He raises his blaster and fires off a shot, then looks down to Swindle. "I think you've tangled with with this nuisance before... shall I finish her off for you, or would you like the honors?" Combat: Blast Off strikes Zipline with his Wipe that Spot Out (Laser) attack! -1 <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "So much for comms. Alright, so call out targets when you see them." <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "Ahh, I see Combaticons." <'Autobot'> Zipline sarcastically, "My favorites." <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "Ditto that." <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "Arcee, who do you want?" <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "I can take Swindle?" <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "alright, I can hit Blast Off. Zipline, flank with whomever you wish. Work together, win together" <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "I'll cut in front of Swindle, fake him out!" Pink Techcar <'Elita One'> veers off to the side, gunning it enough to zoom through before the comms tower falls. <> She flashes her lights at Swindle as she clears distance to him, still in the lead before Arcee. She announces to the Combaticon, "We're coming for you, Swindle...time to cash out!" She makes every intention known that she's planning on ramming the Combaticon, then veers off to the side, giving Arcee some precious feint moments, while she rams two Con troopers instead. She calls out on her loudspeaker, "Keep your cool, Braintrust. Remember your training, capitalize. We can win this if we work together! Now roll out, and send em packing! >> Combat: Pink Techcar <'Elita One'> inspires Zipline and Pink Saturn Sky <'Arcee'> with majestic and noble words! The pink Cybertronian tech car splits apart to reveal Autobot Warrior Arcee! She's ready to kick aft! Combat: Arcee sets her defense level to Aggressive. The Pink Saturn Sky races just behind Elita until they're nearly upon Swindle, at which point she slows down and transforms, landing in a quick sprint right up to the shifty Combaticon and comes at him with a flying leap, aiming to kick him square in the chestplate. Combat: Arcee strikes Swindle with her Kick attack! One second Zipline is lunging off of one rooftops. Then there's a flash of laser fire, and the cat is careening for the ground instead. Forelimbs latch onto a passing fire-escape, and for a second, Zipline is dangling there rather comedically. "Oh gee, if it isn't my /favorite/ combaticon. NOT!" Zipline grumbles, eyeing Blast Off above. She's not really in any position to return fire, unfortunately for her. Which just leaves her in good position to get a decent bead on Blast Off's movements, systems scanning for a weakness or two (Aside from the obvious weakness to enerwine). > She beams to Elita One, followed by the results of her scan. Then the cat lets go, and falls to the alleyway. Combat: Zipline sets her defense level to Guarded. Combat: Zipline analyzes Blast Off for weaknesses Elita One can exploit. A railcar pulls into Nova Cronum's station. Immediately several guardsmen surround it. Even before the doors open, a flurry of demands and questions are hurled. "Stay where you are!" "No trains are authorized to enter during hostilities!" "Stay where you..scrap he said it first." Gunfire and lasers explode out from the car. Several guardsmen slump to the ground simultaneously, smoking and sizzling. The car's front doors open....revealing a very pleased looking Con Engineer. Loco steps out onto the platform. "Sorry gents...Ain't no stoppin this train we're on." He tosses aside his enercig, a hand on his hip. With a single command, hell breaks loose. "Move out." The railcar wall gets blown off the side as a series of armed drones are revealed within it, they start to menacingly march on the city. In the distance, more railcars are seen moving into the station... Loco takes another moment to savor the situation as chaos erupts. "Don't think Onslaught'd mind if I stole one of his lines." He fumbles for his second enercig, lights it and takes a puff.... "....love it when a plan comes together." <'Decepticon'> Swindle says, "Blast Off, that cat is the fastest one here. Make sure she doesn't speed off to try and intercept the second part of the operation." "Destroy her and I'll deduct the value of that bitchin' railgun from your debts," Swindle replies to Blast Off without missing a beat. Veering off to the side is probably the smartest thing Elita did so far, because Swindle was just bringing his cannon back down to level. He starts to turn to follow after her, but gets kicked off his feet by a flying Arcee before he has a chance to fire, and lands on his aft with an oof. "Well that was rude. Clever, but rude." Instead of just laying there though he pulls out his smaller pistol and fires it at Arcee, trying to knock her away with the disruptive magnetic pulse. Combat: Swindle strikes Arcee with his Gyro Gun attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Arcee's Agility. (Crippled) <'Autobot'> Zipline says, "Any clue what the combatijerks are up to this time?" <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "Understood" <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "They have enough troops for a good dock raid, but I'm not certain" Blast Off tilts his head in interest at Swindle's comment. An optic ridge is raised, the shuttlefromer nods silent agreement, and he flies off to go cat hunting. Flying over the rooftops, he soars to the alleyway and hovers above it until he spies Zipline again. He aims his weapon and fires, smirking under his faceplate. "This spot may be a little tough to wipe out, but I am always thorough when I clean... and this place shall be spotless when we are done." Combat: Blast Off strikes Zipline with his Spot Remover the puns never end attack! -2 <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "I'm on Blast Off" <'Autobot'> Zipline bzztcrackle! "-Slagit! Yeah, 'preciate it!" In a fluid motion, Elita One transforms, contining the forward momentum to land on another Con trooper. In her cool, crisp tone, she intones, "Keep up the pressure!" As if to punctuate her words, an explosion rips through the further-in parts of Nova Cronum. She actually pauses in dismay to note the situation. << It's a feint! Autobots, do you read? The Decepticon forces are moving to take Nova Cronum. I need Squadrons: High Tide and Steampower here immediately! Do you understand?)] >> In the meantime, she nimbly shifts aside as a Con Trooper throws a punch at her, she catches the arm, throwing the gumby aside, then takes aim at Blast Off. That targetting data was going to deliver a serious beating to the Combaticon. All she needed was just a moment to aim... <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "It's a feint! Autobots, do you read? The Decepticon forces are moving to take Nova Cronum. I need Squadrons: High Tide and Steampower here immediately! Do you understand?" Combat: Pink Techcar <'Elita One'> sets her defense level to Aggressive. The futuristic car breaks open in the middle, as the legs form upward. Her hood shifts into her armor plating with her arms coming together at the last, turning into Elita One's robot mode. Combat: Elita One strikes Blast Off with her Plasma Cannon attack! -4 Combat: Removing analysis data for Blast Off. Combat: Gained 1 energon. Combat: Error: 'blast' needs to be a player name or object DBref#. <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "That'll show him." <'Autobot'> Zipline says, "You girls good on these lameos? I can go give the others some support!" Arcee is extremely dismayed by what she hears over the radio comm, but she tries not to let any of it show in her demeanor as Swindle manages to tag her with the magnetic pulse. She falls backwards, then pulls her pistol from subspace. "Nothing personal -- it's just a war," she responds coolly, targeting Swindle and firing several times. <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "We'll manage. We need to know what's happening out there!" Combat: Arcee strikes Swindle with her Pistol attack! And no sooner than the feline had dropped to the ground, more laserfire follows. The alleyway is NOT her prefered place to dodge laser fire, at all. At least Zipline hits the ground on all fours. She dashes for the street, zigging and zagging, dodging around trash. "Hey! Leave off, jerk!" She calls back, just before laser fire pierces through her midsection. Something sparks in her cannon, a bit of energon leaking from power conduits. Then, Zipline is out into the open. But that just makes it harder to find her. She takes off at a run, speeding away from the site of the skirmish and towards the explosions further down town. <'ll chek them out and get back to you girls!>> Combat: Zipline sets her defense level to Protected. Combat: Zipline takes extra time to steady herself. Pass <'Autobot'> Zipline says, "I'm picking up an aft-load of drones over here!" ZZOT! "Make that an aft-load of ARMED deceptidrones!" <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "...." <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "They got the Mainframe resecured." Swindle gets a precious few moments to get back onto his feet, dust himself off, and straighten out his bolo tie. "Always interruptions." He then pulls out his holopad and flicks through a few pages. "Let's see here... Declaration of Occpuation.. yada yada.. now under Decepticon rule.. blah blah blah forfeit your valuables or your lives.. yow!" Swindle jerks back his hand and shakes it as the pistol shot hits his arm. Then frowns at the 'plop' of the device falling in the water behind him, sighing. "That was brand new top of the line not suppose to be publicly available until next week! Do you have any idea how hard that was to steal beforehand?" The barrel of his cannon irises back out to its full bore size as he raises it up again. "Oh well, I shall just have to take it out of your hides." He fires off a burst at Arcee, then turns and fires a second burst of explosive buckshot at Elita while she's firing at Blast Off. <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "That complicates things. We're outgunned, we need a fighting withdrawal off the docks as soon as possible. If we can regroup with NC's headquarters, we'll do a lot more good." Combat: Swindle strikes Arcee with his Scatter Blaster Area attack! Combat: Swindle strikes Elita One with his Scatter Blaster Area attack! Combat: Swindle (Swindle) used "Scatter Blaster": A Level 4 AREA-RANGED attack. Combat: You took 7 damage. <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "Can we do that?? Let's do that!" <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "start the fighting retreat Arcee, I'll guard you." Blast Off strikes Zipline again, but fails to see Elita One take aim at HIM as well. The Autobot femme's shot rings true, thanks to her good aim and Zipline's targeting data... and the plasma rips through his torso, sending him spinning like a top for a moment. "AIIGHH!!" Sparks spin in the air along with him and energon starts flowing. He reaches a hand to his midsection to try and stop that flow. Purple optics flare as he spots Elita in the distance, and he fires off a shot in return. "*Another* nuisance... First spots, now *terrible* color stains....I have a lot of cleaning to do here." Then he follows in the direction Zipline headed, trying to prevent her from interferring with their plans. Combat: Blast Off strikes Elita One with his Bleach Out that Color attack! -2 Combat: Blast Off (Blast Off) used "Ionic Blaster": A Level 2 RANGED attack. Combat: You took 6 damage. Combat: That attack has slightly corrupted your Accuracy systems! Combat: Arcee sets her defense level to Neutral. Arcee darts ahead to gracefully transform into her pink Cybertronian Tech Car, enging purring, ready to go! Seriously outgunned, Arcee has come to the realization that she and Elita are going to have to get out of here. This time, Swindle's cannon blast leaves her laying prone for a moment while her systems take time to make sense of the chaos the damage is doing to them. But she isn't down for good. Neither is she ready to 'give up' or surrender -- as long as she's functional, she's always willing to retreat and regroup with a better strategy, as many times as it takes. Now, with a brief time window to regroup, Arcee backs off and transforms...but before she drives off, she has a parting 'present' for the scheming Combaticon: her hubcaps open small compartments, and spikes come launching out to give Swindle a final annoyance to deal with. Combat: Pink Saturn Sky <'Arcee'> strikes Swindle with her Tire Spikes attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Swindle's Agility. (Crippled) Elita One gets shot in the back by Swindle, sending her reeling into Blast Off's advantage. She shakes her head as she takes cover from more fire by putting her back to one of the large freight crates. With a scowl, she gives her orders to the team. Her optics shift, up high, the sniper, on the ground, a lot of forces...and the Bots needed a rear guard. Relying on her commando training, she starts to take advantage of the cover and angles of the situation, retreating towards the ramp leading into the city proper. In the cover of a crate, she kneels for a moment, summoning a new weapon to the field. She loads several radial clips into the weapon, muttering softly, "Fear ammo....should affect everyone in the area, neutronic pulse triggers disrupt courage....and done." The rearguard has arrived, as Elita One plants her feet, her back to two crates and hefts the mighty Scrapmaker-V (patent pending). She starts spraying the area with light rounds, "Get your afts in motions, Bots!" Combat: Elita One sets her defense level to Protected. Combat: Elita One strikes Swindle with the Elita One-forged Say 'Hello' to my yadda-yadda-yadda Area attack! Combat: Elita One misses Blast Off with the Elita One-forged Say 'Hello' to my yadda-yadda-yadda Area attack! Combat: Used up 1 Charges. 1 remain. Despite the burn holes in Zipline's small frame, she books it for the source of the explosions on the other side of the city. Claws rip up little bits of pavement undereath them as she hits her upper speed quickly. Then screetches to a halt so quickly that she very nearly topples over herself when she actually SEES what is causing the explosions. <> She radios back to Elita and Arcee. Drones that suddenly take note of the cheetah in their midst, and begin to fire. Zipline is faster than them, dodging quickly down another road. <> Armed deceptidrones that stomp out into the open on the other side of the road that Zipline tried to escape down. She stops again, leaving furrows in the pavement. She looks from one side to the other. <> At once, the drones start firing. Zipling takes the only option open to her; She runs straight to a nearby building and leaps up at it. Claws dig into the wall as she braces herself, then lunges up onto a balcony. Then finally back onto the roof, leaving a trail of claw-marks and laser burn-holes in her wake. Cats. <> She radios back, safe, for the moment, on the rooftop. Well, not that safe really, not when she hears Blast Off's engines. "Not you again!" She glowers at him. "Ugh, I'm surrounded by aftholes!" Turning, Zipline moves to leap from one rooftop to the other. In the instant that they notice her in the air, the drones open fire, filling the air with lasers. They're not very good at actually hitting her... Which Zipline decides to take advantage of. "Yup, keep firing, aftholes!" Zipline shouts, jumping from another rooftop. She makes sure to keep herself just slightly visible to the drones as she takes off the other way, passing just under Blast Off. And leaving the drones to be a distraction for her. Combat: Zipline strikes Blast Off with her THEY'RE HELPING! (Laser) attack! Swindle grunts as he crouches down, but he's caught in the crossfire between Arcee's spikes as she takes off, and Elita's suppressing fire covering her withdrawl. He's getting pelted from both sides and it's not a good situation to be in. Frankly, it sucks. But he wouldn't be a Combaticon if he was going to let that get him down. Even if he wasn't the most battle happy of the group, he knew how to face up to adversity. He does tap the side of his helm with the palm of his hand though. ".. Strange ringing in my audials.." He might have to look at that later. But definately later. "Okay, if you're going to play like that..." He pushes himself back onto his feet, shunts his scatterblaster... and pulls out a much bigger cannon. As he holds it in front of himself he flicks on the igniter, and a short flashy burst sparks from the muzzle. "How about a little product placement?" Then levels the weapon in front of himself, having to use both hands to support this one. When he pulls down on the trigger a massive gout of plasma spawned flames erupts from the beast of a weapon, a terrifying display in and of itself. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that he laced the chemical concoction that fuels the weapon with a component that produces neurotic effect as it burns. Combat: Swindle sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Swindle strikes Elita One with the Swindle-forged Plasma Conflagerator attack! Combat: Swindle (Swindle) used "Plasma Conflagerator": A Level 4 RANGED attack. Combat: You took 10 damage. Combat: Swindle's attack has slightly decreased your Courage. Blast Off sees a lot from his position up above, including spotting Elita One's next attack. This time, he dodges out of the way in a swooping motion, continuing to pursue Zipline along the rooftops. The cat darts from one rooftop to another, with the shuttleformer in dogged pursuit. "You cannot escape me, Autofool...," he warns, closing in. Her movements seem erratic, haphazard, and he smirks under his faceplate. She's obviously getting scared. Time to close in and finish the fool off. There's another erratic leap... and suddenly Blast Off realizes her movements weren't erratic or scared at all.... they were planned- and they succeeded. Her movements have drawn the drones' fire straight to him, lancing against his arms and shoulders as he swings them up defensively. His heat shields take a lot of the damage, fortunately, but now he's miffed. "Such language. Such... tomfoolery! I think it's time for you to slow down, learn some manners..." He tries to follow Zipline, firing another shot at the Autobot- and this time trying to make sure he stays OUT of the line of fire of the drones. Combat: Blast Off strikes Zipline with his That was embarrassing attack! -3 <'Autobot'> Elita One says, "Fall back Autobots, get out of there." <'Autobot'> Arcee says, "Acknowledged!" <'Autobot'> Zipline says, "On my way out as soon as I lose the jerk." Fortress Maximus hands a shiny +nom to you for doing great RP! Pink Saturn Sky <'Arcee'> begins heading away quickly through a series of side streets and back alleys. She's fairly sure that there's a way of salvaging this mess, but...this current strategy is NOT it. In the meantime, she hopes to herself that Zipline and Elita can shake the creeps and return to the rendesvous point soon. Combat: Pink Saturn Sky <'Arcee'> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. The heavy weight of the Scrapmaker made it a dangerous high-speed weapon...but it's hard to dodge with it, wherein lies its weakness. Swindle strikes true, covering Elita in plasma. She lets out an agonizing shriek of pain as plasma rolls over here, melting her...and this isn't the first time she's been melted, eh Cindersaur? She takes two steps back, letting out bursts of fire until Zipline and Arcee make their exits. They'd better because...well, she'd do what she had to do. She steps onto the ramp, as the gun goes dry. She casually tosses it aside, where it clatters to the ground and suffers a small explosive charge to ruin the weapon. She shifts to her pistols, stepping up the ramp, only when they're both clear does she turn tail, wordlessly. Ducking into her altmode, Elita One leaves the field of battle, the victory securely in the Cons hands. Elita One moves to kneel, her breastplate swings up on both sides, her arms retract, slipping behind her as she sinks down. A windshield rises up at the end, covering her face as she turns into a futuristic car. Combat: Pink Techcar <'Elita One'> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Zipline stumbles when laser fire slams into one forelimb. She trips over her own two paws. For a moment it looks like she might just pull up and keep running. But something seems to wrong, something seems to destabalize her. She topples over, and hits the rooftop in a roll. A roll that takes her right off of one of the rooftops, and down into the back alley below. There's a resounding CRASH as the feline topples into a pile of discard behind the building, sending garbage everywhere. Did she survive it? Who knows. Does Blast Off REALLY want to rummage around in garbage to find out if that tumble was as planned as her previous maneuver? Combat: Zipline begins retreating, leaving herself vulnerable to parting shots from Pink Saturn Sky and Pink Techcar